Lottery operator La Française des Jeux (FDJ) said that preparing for the opening of the internet sports betting market in France will be a major priority for their group this year after 2008 saw a 65 percent rise in sales of its own sports betting product, bucking a modest 1 percent drop in FDJ’s total revenues for the year.

Confirming promotional deals with partners including Orange and members of France’s 1998 World Cup winning team, Française des Jeux (FDJ) said it expects to deliver €1bn in sports-betting turnover this year as the French online market opens up.

Merrill Lynch has been picked as the sole advisor to La Francaise des Jeux, pending the French Government’s decision to sell its stake in the national lottery operator.

While France’s horse racing monopoly, the PMU, has been judged to have gained in stature throughout the recent discussions on the liberalisation of the French betting market, the state–owned monopoly operator La Française des Jeux (FDJ) has fared less well. Thanks to a new book highlighting its financial workings, and the announcement of new online competition from one of France’s leading casinos, FDJ is under mounting pressure.

Private companies now altogether excluded from the German lottery market under new laws that took effect this month have leapt to criticize Germany’s state-run lottery operators over their reported plans to launch a pan-European game to rival the EuroMillions lottery before the end of the year.

France’s budget minister insists online gaming firms will be obliged to cease accepting bets from existing French customers once a draft bill to liberalise the French market gains final approval in the country’s National Assembly.

Europe and Germany are eagerly awaiting the ECJ judgments relating to eight referred gambling cases, in the hope that some clarity will be provided on the legal status of the country's monopolistic, state-based, and often prohibitory approach to gambling regulation.

A recent conference held by the French parliament on the future of its online gaming regime highlighted some of the obstacles the draft bill faces if a reform is to be adopted by the beginning of the football World Cup in June.

German states have postponed a decision on whether or not to ban online gambling.

La Française des Jeux president Christophe Blanchard-Dignac was last week called in for questioning by a magistrate investigating claims that scratchcard games operated by FDJ were fixed. The news has attracted further negative publicity for FDJ at a time when France’s gambling market is at a crossroads.